drawn and quartered

during finals week i graded over 200 essays, and calculated and submitted three sets of grades, all the while did my best to stay afloat and be a good co-editor at LAist, met Diane Keaton (YES, I JUST SAID THAT), and make it on an early flight to seattle for spring break in the pacNW.

during break i got to spend a day with my beloved twinster ashley and see her neck of the woods (literally) north of sea-tac and on the way up to beautiful british columbia. i saw my parents and their ever-improving home for the first time since they left last year. i hung out at the ubc dorms and in some of the more "developing" areas of downtown vancouver with my munchkin. i dragged my parents and nana out to be anthony bourdain for the day and eat a JAPA DOG on the streets of vancouver. i got to see one of the librairies where my brilliant cousin works (and see that some relatives on the other side of my family have a reading room named for them--my goodness!) and have some all-you-can-eat sushi. i had a phenomenal french bistro table d'hote ladies' lunch with my mom, aunt, & nana. i picked up seashells on the beach at point bob and canadian cookies, relish, & chips in the aisles of the safeway to lug back with me. i had a bizarre and fun pizza party with the fam that involved a lot of beer, and absolutely no table setting. i got absolutely no work done.

i came home to record heat, the earliest easter weekend i've ever experienced, a sunflower-bearing darling boy, a third course assignment for the upcoming quarter, a class to re-design, some killer posts on LAist that are helping us to hit TWO MILLION PAGE VIEWS THIS MONTH, the realization that while i was gone neither of the lovely housemates bought dishwasher detergent, and the strange feeling like i'd just taken a trip to the moon and had re-entry sickness or something.

but now the new quarter and i are in full swing--i'm learing the students' names and faces, i'm getting things done and sorted out, and i'm trying really hard to get used to having to get up a) at the unholy hour of 5:30 on mondays and wednesdays and b) four days in a row to go to campus four days in a row. i'm still in shock that i met Diane Keaton ("It's an honor to meet you," I told her. "It's an honor to meet you," she replied). i've got brunches and parties and concerts and lunches and cupcake contests and who knows what else to look forward to. i am remembering how much i love sarah silverman's "Jesus is Magic" thanks to catching it last night on teevee with the darling boy, and i am trying to figure out why i'm getting headaches every day. i also have a brand new pink blackberry pearl that i am loving and learning (the razr sang its swan song and i gave it up with no qualms save for sadly losing all my beloved saved text messages...).

whew. no wonder i get headaches!!! time to get some work done. or play some scrabulous.

oh, hello there!

oops. i have this blog...but sometimes i forget. what with twitter and facebook and all, who goes here to find out what i'm up to? well, just in case...

so i give the darling boy shit every now and then for being super busy...and then i go and have a series of days wherein i realize "oh! when you're busy time flies and suddenly it's monday and i still love (fill in the blank) but i just haven't had the time--i've been BUSY!!!" and here i am.

it's the end of the quarter this week, so obviously i am procrastinating. the gods of weather and time have handed me this fantastically gorgeous monday (and laughed a bit when that hour got snatched away in the wee sunday hours, thus goofing up sleep patterns whaaaat?) and i have a stack of grading to do, and cookies to bake. incongruous? no. i always bake cookies for the last day of one of my english classes because they work so hard all quarter and we end with presentations and a little pot luck party, so it's my contribution to the good times vibe. so, you know, gotta grade, gotta bake cookies.

this last week was the ultimate social whirlwind... wednesday i met up with one of my favorite old skool east coast bloggrrrrls, esther k and dished (very quietly) over some coffee. later that night i joined her and some other familiar faces in beverly hills for drinks--reminding myself that a) going out is FUN! and b) bev hills is not so far from me, i should go there more often and c) hey, there's a roots store in bev hills--why get all roots excited in vancouver and tdot? jeez.

after a long day's werkin' on thursday (end of the quarter MANIA!!!) i dashed over to melrose and la brea to my nintendo ds party. la la la...i'm sorry WHAT? yes, the nice people behind the nintendo ds THREW ME A PARTY! a really, really, really nice party, complete with nibbles and vino, close to 30 of my girlfriends, and a nintendo ds lite for everyone. YES. yes, it's true. it's been in the works for a couple of weeks, but it was kind of this abstract surrealistic concept until my gal pals showed up, the tunes were crankin' and the games were...well, gamin' i guess. it was a sort of natural high to see so many of my friends in one place--for a girl who never throws herself a birthday party (christmas baby, waaaah!) or who throws DISASTROUS half-birthday parties (see: roomie accidentally gives drug laced banana bread to guests, friendships are lost in aftermath that includes me losing my job in unrelated drama) to have such a successful gathering is mind-blowing. there were a few girls who couldn't make it, which was a massive bummer (for all of us!) but on the whole the turnout was spot on. i have great girlfriends! i want to talk more about the party, but will do so later. i'm still not caught up on my comings and goings, so here's some pictures (taken by LAist friend An T.):

okay, enough nintendo ds blather (did i mention mine is pink?) (did i mention that fellow old skool blogger and ist-mate rachelle b is getting a nintendo ds party in chi-town?) (did i mention i went and got super mario bros and a sims game for my ds?) (did i mention that a couple of my guests, the every lovely jozjozjoz and greenlagirl, dished--err, really dished!--about the event on their blogs?).

but that was just thursday. for reals! friday--a gorgeous day here in la la land--found me hanging out with one of my favorite shutterbugs and finally doing what we've talked about doing for so long: making food! we hit up the bangkok market for ingredients, then went back to her place and hit the kitchen for some spring roll action. so much fun, and tasty, too! we even had time to head over to get ice cream at scoops. what a treat!!! that night i met up with juniper and my favorite green bean (aka LAist editor zach) to head downtown to have some drinks with caroline on crack, in honor of her running the l.a. marathon. we talked so much about the blue cheese fries at pete's that we had to head over there...mmmm yeah! late night grubbing! social butterfly... i know, i know! so much fun.

weekends are about LAist and relaxing (um, and now getting my castaway sim to grow the chili peppers to give to a fellow castaway so he won't be so pissy with her) and in the blink of an eye, hello monday, i'm sleeping in til 9 (daylight savings i curse you!) hankering to see my darling boy, procrastinating on dealing with those aforementioned essays to grade, and realizing HOLY CRAP! i'm on a plane up to the pac NW come sunday...

spring break!

i'm off to sea-tac to spend the day with my twinster ashley, then heading over the border for a week of family hijinks (and practicalities, like getting that damn passport already). i sure can use the break--but, urgh, everything starts up again at 8 a.m. the next monday morning. spring quarter! wheeee! (or should i say "Wiiiiii?!")

whew. that was a lot of reporting on my whereabouts. busy. busy. busy. a quick glance at my wall calendar tells me this week i have finals (more grading, eeps!) a dinner outing with a gal pal, and oh, i'm going to MEET DIANE KEATON on saturday!!!!!!

seriously.

things are good, yo! now, let's hope the darling boy remembers to pick me up from the airport next week...
xoxoxo

spam cliffhanger

every now and then i inadvertently open up a piece of spam mail, and every now and then the gibberish at the bottom catches my eye. this latest one, though, has me intrigued to find out what happens next.

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who is the admiral? why can't the person bark? in what way is the voice-over "juicy"? will i ever find out what happens? do i need viagra from cheap online med distributors?